


Four Times Dont Hated Kyr and One She Didn't

by katrani



Category: Thrilling Intent (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, actual puppy kyr fiore, backstory speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-07-11 10:15:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7044262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katrani/pseuds/katrani
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dont would rather humans left her alone. One refuses to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Times Dont Hated Kyr and One She Didn't

**Author's Note:**

  * For [laraanita](https://archiveofourown.org/users/laraanita/gifts).



> Involves a lot of speculation, but I wanted to explore these two and their dynamic. Also used "Kier" within the text because happening before he changed his name.

**i.**

Dont always feels uneasy around humans, so she’s glad when the people of Grieus stop poking around spiritfolk areas. Pointed silence is much better than threats and stalemates, caging and killing, from both sides. Makes going about her day easier, at least, even if she can’t take advantage of the human markets and their imports.

So she’s shocked when someone knocks on her door and she answers it to find a scraggly scarecrow of a boy. He’s all awkward limbs, even odder-looking since he’s truly a kid. Nowhere close to the awkward phase most humans go through. Scratches cover his face and bare arms, but he’s still smiling widely.

“Can I help you?” Dont asks hesitantly. She’s sure he’s not a spiritfolk, even without attempting to sense anything supernatural about him. He’s too lively, standing out too much from the calm wooded path surrounding her house.  
  
“I’m lost!” he says. He’s not upset at all; his voice is boisterous and explosive. “Can you help me? Papa says to find an adult whenever I get lost.”  
  
Dont bites her lip, but nods. There can’t be any harm in helping a child. “Okay. Where did you come from? Let’s see if we can retrace your steps or something, and maybe find your Papa.”  
  
His smile brightens and he grabs her hand in both of his, walking backwards as he pulls her along. “It was this way! I think. The forest is really thick and I mighta gotten turned about.”  
  
It’s only later, when she’s flying away from a volley of arrows loosed by guards as soon as the boy’s inside the city, that she remembers humans aren’t to be trusted, no matter how well they can match her chatter.

 

**ii.**

She pulls a sixth miniscule pie out of her oven, humming pleasantly to herself. Her home smells like berries and dough, all kinds of growing things, her favorites. She turns to set it on the windowside counter with the others to cool, then sets about making a seventh. All of her neighbors will eat well tonight!

Dont hears a shattering while she’s pouring the center mix into the crust. She fumbles the bowl and spoon, manages to right them both before losing more than a fifth of it. That all settled, she whirls around to check her window. There’s a rock on the counter with glass around it, a hole in the bottom section of the pane. Four of the pies have hand-shaped scoops taken out of them, and the second one she made is gone. In its place is a note.

_I owe you a pan! And food. + a window. I’ll pay you back later. -Kier_

She leaves her baking, rushes out the door- but he’s already gone. She knows it. This has happened enough times before. Anger throbs through her, like boiling water, like rumbling clouds. She pulls a sheet of paper out of a drawer, looks at the tallies of owed things. Adds another mark for pans and windows, then slams it back into place. Someday she’ll get it all back.

 

**iii.**

Dont knows she shouldn’t, knows it’s that boy again, but she can’t help her curiosity when she hears whooping and hollering on the path outside. She opens her window, leaning out of it with her ears twitching forward.  
  
Kier’s running out of the woods, a bit more grown into himself now but still gangly and stumbling. He notices her immediately and bounds up to the side of her home. “Perfect, you are here! Can you feed my friends?”

“Friends?” She wrinkles her nose, noting the heavy smell of fish around him. Grey bits of scales and the dark juices of wildberries cling to his clothes. “What’re you talking about?”

“I tried, but I couldn’t clean everything well, and-” There’s a roar behind him. He turns, grins. “There you guys are!”

Dont’s eyes widen as she sees four bears charging out of the woods, clearly following his scent. “NopeI’mbusygottagodostuff,” she insists as she slams the window shut. She ducks into the back area of her bedroom, ignoring the sound of yelling and then running and the heavy sniffing around the outside before more shouting draws them off..

When she goes to check outside later, she finds deep scratches gouged into the wood, and her small herb garden is trampled. She spends an hour stomping around and taking stock of the damage, fuming at everything. 

Later that night when she can’t sleep she paces to her drawer of important things and adds to her record of grievances.

 

**iv.**

For once, he wanders into town. He’s sporting some new soot marks from some device or other, but otherwise seems normal. The other spiritfolk find their excuses to get home, but she has a long walk and misses her chance to duck in with someone.

“Dont!” the young man calls, running up to her. “Hey, where is everyone? I saw them all running home; is something going on?”

“No, everyone’s just tired. It’s almost sundown, Kier.” She keeps her words short, trying not to be friendly with him. Every time he’s around something goes wrong, or gets damaged, or someone’s hurt. Even if he does always say hello or does try to help out or make promises to make up for everything.

“Oh, too bad, I wanted to show off what I learned about using upchuck fruit in fireworks! Although there’s not a lot of everyone around anymore in general, is there? Seems like every time I come by there’s fewer and fewer people around.”

She freezes. He’s put his finger exactly on the thing none of them want to say, and his gall chills her to the bone. She shoves him. “You have no place to say that!”

Even though he’s bigger than her, he stumbles, not expecting that. “What? Dont, what’s going on?”

“It’s all your fault! You, and the rest of the humans! You messed everything up!” She’s done accepting apologies, done writing him off as good-natured but mistaken. She can’t take any more of it. “I’m glad they’re gone! I’m glad that after you, there won’t be any more in the Shrouded Isles!”

He stares at her, dumbfounded. But then his smile becomes a grimace and then a scowl, and he straightens himself, towering over her. He’s an earthquake to her tremor, his rage much more pronounced. He shoves her back, and his extra weight means she’s knocked to the ground. “Yeah? Well maybe I don’t want any of you spiritfolk around either! You’re all too boring and too over everything, you have no idea what I’m trying to do.”

“Then leave us alone!” She retorts, standing up and crossing her arms over her chest as she glares at him.  
  
“Fine!” he shouts. “Maybe I will!”

“Fine!” she repeats. “Go on!” She stays there, watching him storm off. Only once he’s out of sight does she breathe and relax a little, although there’s a pit in her stomach and she can’t name why, thinking about him not being around anymore.

 

**v.**

Gregor comes to her one day. “Do you trust me?”

“Yeah, of course! Why wouldn’t I?”

“I, um. Kier asked me to ask you to be out of your house for a day, and to maybe let him be in it?”

Dont purses her lips. She’s about to flatly refuse, but she knows Gregor would’ve shut it down if he thinks anything foul is at play. “Alright.” She grabs her basket. “Besides, I have to do some shopping, and visit Miss Kyl’il, and I wanted to pop by your bar and ask if I could get you guys anything.”

Gregor chuckles. “Yeah? Well, let’s get going then.”

They’re gone until sundown, and when they do return Kier’s sitting nervously in one of her chairs. He jumps up as soon as they enter, and waves his arm around. “I did it- um. I got everything! I think.”

Dont’s only able to stand there in amazement. Everything about her kitchen has been redone. The countertops are glittering stone, and when she touches them they’re cool and smooth, smoother than anything she’s had before. Her cabinets have been reorganized, and there’s some kind of cloth on the shelves within them to help keep everything in place. Her window shimmers in the late sunlight, obviously not glass anymore. Finally, sitting on the table (and most of the counterspace, and even some on top of her stove) are 56 bowls and pie tins and pans, and next to them what looks like 78 miniature pies and a dozen containers of various herbs and seasoning powders.

“Markus helped a lot,” Kier says, his words stumbling over each other. “If you tap the window and think of something, it’ll show you that image. Only works for you, though. And the counters won’t ever chip if you wind up missing your cutting board or something! And your sink-”

“Shush!” Dont insists, worrying that his voice will break the spell. “This is… You kept track of everything?”

He rubs the back of his neck, embarrassed. “Yes’m.”

“I- thank you. This is the best anyone’s ever… Thank you!” She actually dashes over and hugs him, and for once he doesn’t try to push her away or anything either. He’s warm and soft, nothing at all like the sharp boy she first met- well, maybe still just as loud. “Now, sit down, you too Gregor, both of you are enjoying this feast with me.”


End file.
